Happy September everyone!

I know with the students back on campus (both physical and virtual) and with classes starting many of you are probably very busy so I’ll keep it “short!”

Student complaints & distance education & federal requirements & SARA requirements:

I have a sneaking suspicion we’re all going to be seeing an uptick in complaints from students due in part to the move online by the majority of our classes due to COVID. As a reminder, we are
required both by the Dept. of Education and by NC-SARA to have mechanisms for students who participate in distance education to submit a complaint and to have information about submitting a complaint readily available on a public facing website (i.e. assessable as part of the Student Right to Know). Our handling of oversight of the student complaint process in general is reviewed at the time of your accreditation (HLC) review as well as during your SARA review/reauthorization.

Much like with other university policies, the policy the institution writes and how they handle the complaints is up to their discretion: that is, there is no set definition for what is considered a
complaint. Your institution’s process will be what that best fits your institution’s & student population's needs – types of complaints may even vary from institution to institution. Your university should encourage students initially to address complaints and grievances relating to academics, consumer protection, or other University policies with the specific individuals or units most directly connected with the issue at hand unless there are good reasons for not doing so such as a desire to maintain anonymity. For students located outside of Colorado that have a complaint that involves distance learning, that student must first seek resolution with your university. If the student bringing the complaint is not satisfied with the outcome of the university’s internal processes, the student may file a complaint with university’s SARA portal, here: Colorado Department of Higher Education.

Examples of types of student complaints that may be brought to the SARA portal entity include veracity of recruitment and marketing materials, job placement data, accuracy of information about tuition, fees, and financial aid, accuracy of course transfer information. Complaints and appeals involving grades or student conduct violations will not be reviewed by the SARA portal entity.

Generally speaking you should be able to easily identify a description of your university’s policies/process, who administers them, when & how o^en their reviewed, how the complaints are tracked, etc. That is, do you know where to find the following:

• Policy/policies on student complaints;
• Procedures for timely handling of student complaints;
• Public location of student complaints policy/policies and process;

Sincerely, 

Erika

Erika G. Swain
Interim Assistant Director for State Authorization
Office Digital Education
University of Colorado System
e: swaine@cu.edu
https://www.cu.edu/state-authorization
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Assistant Director for Compliance and Authorization
Office of Data Analytics | Office of Institutional Research
University of Colorado Boulder
e: Erika.Swain@colorado.edu
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o: (303) 735-8184
c: (518) 637-9785